Features

Version 2 ("Twoflower") brings a new interface, faster decoding, support for more formats and the ability to play HD and BluRay. It still remains however the most stable, flexible and lightweight audio and video player around today. While other media players will play unusual formats after downloading a codec, or simply refuse to play things,

VLC media player handles tons of formats, from MPEG to FLV and RMBV files. Version 2 has seen some important additions too such as support for 10 bit codes plus multi-threaded decoding for H.264, MPEG-4/Xvid and WebM.

Also useful is the fact that you can use VLC media player to preview files you are downloading since it plays incomplete parts of video files. VLC media player is not just for video playback however. It also offers superb integration with video channel streaming services such as Channels.com giving you access to channels such as ESPN, Reuters and National Geographic. Just right-click or CMD-click on the playlist, select Services Discovery and Channels.com.

Channels.com will then appear in your VLC media player playlist. Click on it to reveal the the different categories of channels available. Click on the category you want and a drop down list of all available channels appears in VLC media player. Just click on the channel you want to watch and streaming should begin almost immediately.

Usability

VLC media player also has great hotkey support and if you take the time to learn the shortcuts so it can be controlled without touching your mouse. If you're watching DVDs or video files through it, this is not an issue. For music, it plays more or less any file and features an equalizer and playlist creation. VLC media player isn't as intuitive as iTunes as a media manager, but it's a much more flexible player in terms of file formats. You can even use VLC to convert your files, and on top of all the formats and physical media it will play, many streaming protocols and TV capture cards are supported.

VLC media player makes it easy to add subtitles to your video files too - just add the SRT file to the folder where your video is kept, and it will automatically play with subtitles.

Finally, the interface in VLC media player has been somewhat improved in version 2 although it remains strictly functional. However, you can download skins to completely change VLC media player's appearance. The preferences menu is comprehensive without being overwhelming, and there is extensive documentation online.

Conclusion

VLC Media Player is quite simply the best multimedia application for Windows and Mac. It plays just about anything, hassle free - what more could you need?

What's new

Rework and fixes of the Mac OS X interface

Fix Pulseaudio initial synchronization

Fix MKV, SWF, AIFF and subtitles demuxer crashes

Translations updates and new Welsh translation

DVB-S delivery system detection

Fix audio and video track selection through libVLC

Fix system sleep issue on Mac OS X 10.5

Download VLC media player 2.0.7 in Softonic

AVGO Free DVD Ripper is based on DirectX tech. Actually, only you can play your DVD, then you can convert the DVD Video to other video formats. No copy right issue. It can support all kinds of DVD, no uncompilable problems.

To People who already bought a legal DVD, and want to save their properties. AVGO Free DVD Ripper software can help these people to keep their DVD's Vaule, and can help user see the DVD movies on other devices.

Download AVGO Free DVD Ripper 1.0.3 in Softonic

In the unregistered version of FRAPS you can take 30 seconds of video, with a FRAPS watermark, and take screenshots in BMP format. In the full version there is no video watermark, and screenshots also come in JPG, PNG, and TGA format.

To use FRAPS, simply start the app before your game, and when the game starts, you will se a frame rate counter in the corner of the screen, great for benchmarking. Taking screenshots and video is hotkey activated. You can choose to take screenshots one at a time, or repeatedly with a given time gap.

For video, you can record with sound, and even with a microphone, so you can create your own walk throughs easily. Video production has the disadvantage of size - 3 minutes of video will be around 3GB, meaning you need a further application to change the format. However, FRAPS is very lightweight and shouldn't effect gameplay quality much.

As an all-in-one benchmarking, screenshot and video tool, FRAPS is hard to beat. It is lightweight and easy to use, with enough options to keep most users happy.

Download FRAPS 3.5.99 in Softonic

Sometimes there's nothing better than a good old space shoot'em up. Warblade is an updated version of the Amiga classic called Galaga.

Of the 100 levels available in the game, 75 are at least identical to those you'll find in Galaga. Otherwise the game offers updated graphics, more bonuses and special effects. Your goal is like in any typical space shoot'em up, to shoot down enemy ships and beat the end of level bosses. The game can get quite challenging with enemy fire all over the screen and alien ships racing at you.

To make Warblade work properly you'll have to ensure that your graphics card is good enough. Don't worry though, if your computer can take games with higher end graphics then it will have no trouble with Warblade.

If you like shoot'em ups and you're a big fan of arcade games you'll enjoy playing Warblade. However you'll probably find the game gets a bit repetitive after a while.

Warblade is an updated and improved version of Galaga, a classic Amiga futuristic shoot'em up.

Download Warblade 1.34 in Softonic

GPU-Z is a simple but practical utility to find out which graphics card is installed on your computer.

But much more than that, GPU-Z gives you the full lowdown on its capabilities, status and whether it can handle the type of games or applications you're trying to push through it. The program is compatible with just about every brand of card there is and gives you data such as the name, brand, model, memory, bios version and DirectX driver among many other things.

The other nice thing about GPU-Z that there's absolutely no installation required. An added bonus is that the program can take you directly to the TechPowerUp website which shows the percentage of users who use each brand and where in the world they can be found. GPU-Z is very useful for diagnosing if you're suffering from overclocking.

GPU-Z is a simple but handy tool for anyone wondering whether their graphics card is able to handle the latest programs and games.

Download GPU-Z 0.6.8 in Softonic

That said, you’d be hard pressed to say that anything else about this program is simple - reviewing Blender was like one of those nightmares where you suddenly realize that you are in deep water, but don’t know how to swim.

Full of features

Amazing in its variety, flexibility and features, Blender is huge, and a single review just doesn't seem to do it justice. For the uninitiated, the interface is overwhelming. There are bunches of panels and bars, all full of explanations and icons, with tooltips for everything. It is also completely customizable, as you can add and remove sections as desired, as well as moving them around and resizing.

Beneath the options menus are Blender’s functions, ranging from rigging and modeling to animation and game creation. In fact, Blender 3D has so many features that listing them all here would take hours, so take a peek at the definitive guide here. Among the more surprising elements included in the program are a built-in text editor, audio playback/editing and a game engine.

Steep learning curve

Blender has no configuration options to speak of as all the program's features can be toggled from the main interface. It is really a program for experts, or for users who hope to become much more proficient. Although there are good Blender tutorials on the website, this 3D modeling program is not something to casually play around with. Beginners would probably be better off, in fact, having a look at something more accessible, such as Google SketchUp.

If 3D creation is your thing and you don't have a copy of Blender, you're almost certainly missing out.

Blender is a hugely impressive 3D modeling program that is likely to scare off the uninitiated.

Download Blender 2.66a (32 bits) in Softonic

Infected Screen Saver is not DirectX or OpenGL based. Simple flooding your screen with green characters can be described as somewhat orthodox and can be probably better accepted by the more experienced audience not liking the animated screensavers.

Have you worked years in DOS in the 80's or 90's? (Not only) you may like this screensaver.

Download Infected Screen Saver 1.21 in Softonic

Fast forward six years and Sega finally published Aliens: Colonial Marines. But like most movie tie-in games, it fails to capture the theme and tone of the source material. Aliens: Colonial Marines' story takes place after James Cameron's 1986 movie, explaining what happened on the colony after Ripley and the first squad of Marines came and lost their encounter with the xenomorphs.

While it was expected that the game would have a very 1980s tone, Aliens: Colonial Marines takes it to a new level with bizarre writing, lack of character development, and a lack of polish.

Gameplay

As with all first-person shooters, nailing down the controls is very important. Aliens: Colonial Marines presents average controls where you spend more time trying to aim even the simplest shot to kill an Alien. Moving through the copy/paste environments feels like sliding over ice. There is no sense of urgency or reason to quickly complete objectives.

Selecting different weapons in Aliens: Colonial Marines is easy when switching from one of the two primary weapons, but changing your loadout takes a lot more time because you have to hold the weapon switch button, move the joystick to choose the new weapon and then release weapon switch. At this point you should have the new weapon selected, but half the time, Aliens: Colonial Marines does not recognize the change.

Throwing grenades results in the most basic of animations and doesn't satisfy, feeling more like throwing rocks into a river. Other weapons like the shotgun are unbalanced and you spend more time just trying to find the right weapon that you can "deal with" rather than favor. The upgrade points you earn in the game by completing levels allow you to upgrade weapons and parts, but every weapon feels either over or under powered.

The Alien AI is among the worst for any game. They sprint towards you, jumping occasionally, or mindlessly running around the level. Areas where you should be able to attack them are not available, so you are stuck watching them crawl around until they eventual attack.

Essentially, Aliens: Colonial Marines has a huge lack of polish. Everything feels incomplete and missing key features to accurately create the Aliens experience.

Graphics and Sound

Aliens: Colonial Marines is barely passable as a PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 game, even more when considering Aliens: Colonial Marines runs on the hopelessly outdated DirectX 9.0c. The game presents some of the most boring environments and even though it's heavily influenced by the movie, it still feels boring somehow. The expected lighting effects are non-existent, favoring either a pitch-black room or a barely lit cone of light from a flashlight.

Character models are laughable and while secondary characters have distinct features, they are easily forgettable. The source material takes little prominence with the Marines in their armor only having a passing resemblance to the movie. The detail available to create individual characters was not applied.

Aliens are among the worst looking. The character models look like the skins were pasted on without any definition to the character. Even when close, they look bland and covered with green moss rather than the H.R. Giger insect designs they were based on. It is sad to watch the Aliens because they have a very distinct look that was not used to the full potential in Aliens: Colonial Marines.

Sound in Aliens: Colonial Marines also has issues. While the game does feature original sound files from the movie for weapons and effects, the rest of the game sounds even more artificial. The environmental sound attempts to create tension, but become laughable because it feels so forced. The story pushes a specific tone, which goes out the window very quickly. The game mixes classic movie sound effects with a very strangely mixed audio track made for Aliens: Colonial Marines.

Even though Aliens: Colonial Marines contains voice acting, a lot of the lines are so haphazardly recorded they never sound serious. Even considering Aliens: Colonial Marines is bridging a 1980s movie, it still comes across as lacking.

Multiplayer

The biggest draw for multiplayer is the ability to play as one of the types of Aliens. Beyond that, the multiplayer in Aliens: Colonial Marines feels like an average selection of team deathmatch or goal-based missions. More than anything, the different modes do not present a big challenge other than one side always trying to kill the other. Controlling an Alien is even more difficult than controlling a Marine with imprecise attacks that result in many deaths. Even the various Aliens do not make the experience that fulfilling.

Aliens: Colonial Marines' multiplayer feels like a tacked-on addition to the game, more of a requirement than a fully thought-out mode for the game. It is disappointing because having a well developed multiplayer was one of the better selling points.

Misused license

Considering how long Aliens: Colonial Marines was in development, the end result should have been much better than what was released. Aliens: Colonial Marines looks nothing like it was presented as and feels like a last generation game rather than the fully realized game that was promised.

The gameplay is average at best and the graphics lack the shine that Gearbox originally presented. Given all the bugs and problems of Aliens: Colonial Marines, it will be a long time before another Aliens game is given the green light.

Playing Aliens: Colonial Marines creates the realization that something went wrong during development.

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The program does not require being installed or uninstalled. It doesn't need any DLLs, ActiveX, DirectX, Java, Windows services packs or IE updates Just download the program and run it.

This software is meant for all users which likes taking pictures and want to find out the GPS data from their pictures.

Download Has GPS? 1 in Softonic

A system analyzer is often overlooked as the toy of PC modding fanatics, but the reality is that these applications are very effective at dissecting your PC and giving you the hard truth about its performance. PC Wizard aims to explore the insides of your system and give you the complete low down on its strengths and weaknesses.

Once you launch PC Wizard you’ll notice it takes some time to detect all the hardware installed on your PC. Use the left side of the interface to navigate through the different categories. PC Wizard reveals all the basic details of your hardware, like ports, drivers and processors, but you’ll soon realize there’s much more to it, like analyzing system files or investigating the configuration of elements such as your Internet connection or your Control Panel. Over-sized icons make it fairly obvious what you can inspect, however we would have appreciated an explorer type window in PC Wizard to navigate through components and select exactly what to analyze.

The core of any self-respecting system analyzer is the benchmarking tool and that is where PC Wizard excels. PC Wizard lets you inspect everything from processors to cache, RAM and multimedia like DirectX, MP3 compression and video. Benchmarks in PC Wizard provide the results as a list of information or via comprehensible graphs. These will show you straight away where you’re PC stands and the “compare with” button will let you measure your processor up against well known models. We have to warn beginners though that the information is fairly technical and will be more relevant to experienced users. Just for fun, test out PC Wizard's video benchmark to obtain a swarm of multi-coloured balls and lines all over your screen.

That’s the only bit of excitement you’ll get with PC Wizard though. PC Wizard is not here for fun it's here to be effective. The detailed information and thorough benchmarking tests give you reliable data on all the characteristics and components of your PC. The complexity of this type of application means beginners are best kept away from it altogether, however advanced users will revel in the wealth of knowledge it will uncover on their PC’s performances.

Download PC Wizard 2010 2.11 in Softonic

Similar to VLC media player, ALLPlayer is ideal for playing stubborn video files that won't play in your usual video player. It supports subtitles and plays just about anything and if it can't play a file, it will try to download the appropriate codec from the ALLPlayer website. If you need subtitles for a film, it will even try and download those as well although this function is very hit and miss. An unusual subtitle feature is an automatic voice recognition system that actually reads the subtitles for those who are visually impaired although again, it's not very accurate.

However, one thing to be aware of is that ALLPlayer is based on DirectX which is notorious for being a backdoor for trojans and other malware. DirectX has been much improved and tightened-up since the bad old days though and this shouldn't be an overriding concern if you're thinking of using ALLPlayer.

There are tons of other features in ALLPlayer including an attractive iTunes style Coverflow browser, support for Dolby, and it even previews incomplete AVI files such as those that are downloading. The interface isn't as polished as VLC media player's version 2 release but this is a relatively minor drawback to a solid media player.

ALLPlayer is an excellent multi-format media player that's packed with features.

Download ALLPlayer 5.2 in Softonic

Adobe Audition is a multi-track recording studio that offers all the refinement you expect in Adobe products but may leave beginners floundering in technical jargon.

After the initial installation, Adobe Audition searches for compatible audio formats on your hard drive but asks you which file types you want to associate with it. Otherwise the program would detect every single sound file on your hard drive meaning your Adobe Audition library would be a jumbled mess.

Adobe Audition's interface is clean, with the active window highlighted by a red border. Each window is separated by tabs to keep the File, Effects, Main and Mixer sections separate and easy to revert to. If you don’t like the layout then Adobe has provided an Unlock Panel option which allows you to detach and move these windows to a position of your choosing. You can save your own rearrangements as workplace templates according to the type of project you are working on.

To really get the most out of Adobe Audition, you’ll need a pretty good sound card. For those concerned with MIDI support, Adobe Audition doesn’t offer a great deal in this area and many users report this as one of the most confusing aspects of the program to configure.

To describe all the editing possibilities of Adobe Audition would involve going into the minute technicalities of audio composition and compression but there are four main modes to get to grips with. The first is Waveform Display which displays the wave in graphical form. Second is Spectral Frequency Display which graphically displays the frequency range with colors. Logarithmic Display does exactly the same but obviously displays the wave as a Logarithm. For producing stereo-sound, there’s also Spectral Pan Display and Spectral Phase Display which enable you to get stereo sound perfectly synced.

Editing is performed using the time-honored cut and paste functions common to most audio and video editing programs. You simply mark an in and out point and cut and paste the audio until it’s as you want it. However, the Adobe Audition is much more advanced than this as it's able to detect beat patterns and rhythms and set in and out points accordingly. To use this function though, you’ll have to spend a long time studying the Help guide (which fortunately is very clear and detailed). You can also use a relatively new function in the audio editing field called Frequency Space Editing which means you can edit certain frequencies of the sound rather than the wave as a whole. There are also of course a heap of effects that you can apply to sounds ranging from complex distortions to pitch bending specific frequencies.

Adobe Audition has been updated with a host of new features. Pick of the bunch is probably the way Adobe have improved multitrack editing, added new effects and enhanced noise reduction. They've also added phase correction tools plus VSTi virtual instrument support and native 5.1 surround support. The multi-track editing suite has been improved to save time and maintain consistency by grouping clips into a Multitrack View. From here you can trim and fade much more easily. You can also batch save all audio files applying specific file formats, locations, filename templates, and more.

Adobe Audition is a very advanced program designed only for those who are serious about multi-track audio production. If you are looking for a simple sound editor, then this is way too advanced and will only leave you frustrated. If however you want to take your first few steps into professional editing, the extensive Adobe help guide will ensure that you get the most out of this rich and complex program.

Download Adobe Audition 5.0 in Softonic

Download Acoustica Mixcraft 6.196 in Softonic

Winamp was born as a very basic media player and has slowly but consistently improving for many years. Its main purpose was to be completely customizable and through the years, many people have contributed to a library that now consists of over 20,000 skins and loads of plug-ins.

When Winamp version 5 was released, Nullsoft redeemed themselves in the public's eyes after producing a much improved player to replace Winamp 3. They didn't need much encouragement as they justified skipping version number 4 by saying that it was such a huge improvement that it deserved to be called 5!

Luckily they are justified in their opinion, as Winamp offers everything you might want in a media player. Using the skins, you can set it to look like the original or the current default which looks great and puts you in control of all your media quickly and easily. I particularly like Winamp's minimized player that consists of a small bar that you can place on the edge of your screen. Of course, if neither of these agree with your taste you can download and try any of the thousands others available on the Winamp website.

Winamp supports a wide range of file formats, and because the program is small and simple, it works quickly on almost all computers. Have a look through the available plug-ins and you will also find that you can hook up your iPod and manage its music library.

Winamp may have been around for ever, but it hasn't been left behind and is a fully featured music player that's really customizable. A good alternative to iTunes.

Download Winamp 5.63 Full in Softonic

Desarrollado por Croteam y sustentado en el moto Serious Engine 3, Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter combina gráficos espectacularmente mejorados, (más polígonos, texturas de más resolución y más efectos especiales) con el desarrollo.

Frenético propio de la saga para que disfrutes de acción sin tregua. El juego, con modos individual, de supervivencia y cooperativo combinados con gráficos brillantemente actualizados, te permite proseguir tu batalla contra el ejército de Mental con la clásica acción desbordante, el humor disparatado y el terror de los mejores shooters en primera persona.

Si a todo ello añadimos sus intensos modos de enfrentamiento y en equipo hasta para 16 jugadores en más de 18 mapas multijugador, la opción de grabar demostraciones, espectadores y un servidor dedicado, Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter se convierte en un digno sucesor de la obra maestra originalLa clave de activación debe usarse en una cuenta Steam válida.

Requisitos del sistema: OS: Windows XP SP1CPU: Intel P4 3+ Ghz / AMD Athlon64 3500+RAM: 1 GB. For XP / 2 GB. For VistaHDD: 22 GBVideo: nVidia GeForce 7600, ATI Radeon X1600 (Shader Model 30 required)DirectX: DirectX 90c © 2010 Croteam Ltd Serious Sam HD, The Serious Sam HD logo, Serious Engine 3, the Serious Engine 3 logo, Croteam and the Croteam logo are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Croteam All rights reserved

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Real 3D View - tracks and drills are modeled in 3D. You can rotate and zoom the PCB, move the virtual camera in between PCB layers. You can see details of layout, from the different angle then vertical (as it is in typical Gerber Viewer). Color is no longer needed to signal the layer Z-axis position, it can be used to mark nets. DirectX technology enables real time motion. Gaming-level graphic hardware is recomended.

PCB Designers, CAD/CAM operators. After the PCB is designed, typically the CAD software "prints out" gerber and excellon files. Those files are send to factory. It is good to check those files before manufacturing the PCB.

Download ZofzPCB 0.2.0000 in Softonic

If you're tired of the Windows native image viewer and want to use another tool to browse through your photos, look no further. We found it for you: FastPictureViewer.

FastPictureViewer is a fast, straightforward photo viewer that lets you scan the contents of a whole photo folder in a very easy way. You can move along pictures with many different key combinations (arrow keys, + and – keys, page up and page down keys) and also the mouse wheel. Plus the mouse buttons can be customized to quickly zoom in a photo.

FastPictureViewer works only with JPG and HD photo formats, and also supports XMP ratings which are compatible with popular photo tools like Adobe Lightroom.

That said, don't expect to find many other features in this program. FastPictureViewer doesn't include all the bells and whistles you could expect from an image viewer. I would say FastPictureViewer is especially addressed to users who just need a tool to quickly review photos and pick those which need further editing.

The program features a sleek, dark interface with a minimalistic design that contributes to put all the attention on the photo itself.

FastPictureViewer is an attractive, easy photo viewer that's mainly focused on browsing large picture collections and doesn't include any extra tools like the ones you find in similar apps.

Download FastPictureViewer Professional 1.8.252 in Softonic

Reinstall DirectX EZ is actually a comprehensive DirectX Toolkit for Windows game lovers. It can help Windows users to reinstall or repair DirectX conveniently. It can also completely uninstall DirectX from your system.

Reinstall DirectX EZ is mainly developed for Windows game loavers to fix fatal DirectX errors when it's in need. Also the Windows geeker and parents can use it to completely uninstall DirectX from Windows systems.

Download Reinstall DirectX EZ 6 in Softonic

If you own the game and your PC exceeds the recommended specifications, you'll be able to use The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim High Resolution Texture Pack. When the game was released last year, one of the few criticisms was that gamers with powerful PCs couldn't take advantage of all their extra resources. This free DLC takes care of some of that.

Minimum specs for your PC are Windows Vista/7, 4GB of RAM, and a DirectX 9.0c compatible NVIDIA or AMD ATI video card with at least 1 GB of RAM with fully updated drivers. Of course for the best experience, you'll want an even more powerful PC to make sure you never suffer from slow down.

Released in conjunction with the Skyrim Creation Kit for modders, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim High Resolution Texture Pack is a fantastic free gift that's essential for anyone with a powerful enough PC

Download Skyrim High Resolution Texture Pack (Free DLC) in Softonic

Download SolveigMM HyperCam 3.5.1210.30 in Softonic